Board of Directors

Clay Bolt (President) is a Natural History and Conservation Photographer whose work has been featured by organizations and publications such as the National Geographic Society, The Nature Conservancy, Scientific American, Outdoor Photographer, Audubon Magazine, BBC Wildlife and many others. He is an Associate Fellow in the International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP) and a co-founder (2009) of the the global biodiversity and nature photography project Meet Your Neighbours. In 2012, in partnership with The Highlands Biological Foundation, he co-founded Backyard Naturalists, whose mission is to inspire an appreciation of the natural world in children through science, art and technology. Currently, Clay is documenting North America’s native bees and the roles that they play in our lives.

Eric Bowles is an Atlanta based nature photographer specializing in the Southeastern United States. His work has been published in magazines, newspapers, and commercial publications. In addition to fine art prints, Eric leads workshops for intermediate and experienced photographers. Custom instruction and tours are available on request for select southeastern destinations including the Great Smoky Mountains, Okefenokee, and Coastal Georgia. Eric’s non-profit work includes a leadership role as moderator for Nikonians.org. He is a past Board member of Georgia Nature Photography Association and served as NANPA’s Marketing/Communications Committee Chair.

Don Carter is a nature photographer whose passion is photographing wildlife. Don loves a great mountain scene but having a bird or animal in the same scene truly completes it, by making the statement, “this is nature.” While Don has loved photography most of his life his passion really began with the advent of digital photography in the early 2000s. His main interest at that time was photographing sporting dog competitive events. Don has led numerous photo tours to places such as Yellowstone, the Badlands, and Bosque del Apache. He has been published in Springer’s in the Field magazine, the AKC magazine and Midwest Outdoors. He is also chair of the NANPA College Committee and the Regional Events Committee. Don is a retired university professor who is taking photographs full time while traveling around the country with his wife and springer spaniel in their RV.

Gary Farber is one of the best known faces in the nature photography industry. Gary, who is the marketing director for Massachusetts based Hunt’s Photo & Video, has worked closely with some of the biggest names in the business over the past 15 years. He has been a long-time supporter of NANPA and where has played an active role in the high school, college programs and board. Three generations of Farber family ownership have established Hunt’s as a trendsetter in the imaging equipment industry. Begun as a Malden Center drugstore by pharmacist Solomon Farber and his sons, Hunt’s began building its camera business during the 1950s under the visionary leadership of Solomon’s son, Jack. Led today by Jack’s sons, Scott and Gary, Hunt’s proudly serves a diverse audience of individual, corporate, educational, and government clients as one of the country’s largest retailers of photographic, video and digital imaging products.

Sean Fitzgerald (Past-President) is a Deep Ellum-based environmental and fine art photographer whose images have been widely published in books, magazines, calendars and more. His fine-art prints are found in private and corporate collections across the country, including banks, hotels, hospitals, and convention centers. Sean creates images that are simple, graphic, evocative, surreal and that in some way evoke a reaction, provoke an emotion, or tell a story. While his photographic subjects are widely varied, he is repeatedly drawn to nature and wildlife and the impact of man on both.

Jack Graham is a full time photographer and workshop leader. For over 21 years Jack has conducted group as well as private workshops and seminars domestically and internationally. Jack‘s work has been features in magazines, books and other publications. Jack is on the road over 200 nights per year. When not on the road, home is in Graham WA where he lives with his wife Linda. Jack has been a NANPA member since 1994 and a board member since 2012. Prior to that Jack was the chair of NANPA’s Awards committee.

Bruce Haley (Treasurer) is a Charleston, WV native has always felt the need to create. He experimented with writing, music, painting and crafts. While finding all these expressions somewhat satisfying, it wasn’t until he found photography that Bruce knew he had found what he had been searching for all his life. Bruce uses the camera lens as his paint brush. Since November of 2002, Bruce’s award-winning photographic works of art have been displayed in more than eighty exhibitions in West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Colorado, North Carolina and California. His work is included in many corporate and private collections including six pieces in the State of West Virginia’s permanent art collection.

Morgan Heim loves stories about wildlife, and strives to find creative, emotive and truthful ways to share our connections with the animal kingdom. She is an Associate Fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers, (iLCP), Missouri Photo Workshop alum, and 2014 winner of the BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition for conservation photography. With degrees in zoology (BS) and environmental journalism (MA), her work has appeared in outlets such as Smithsonian, National Parks, National Geographic NewsWatch, and BBC Wildlife. Her project, CAT in WATER, founded with colleague Joanna Nasar, has garnered international attention and conservation support for the fishing cats of Thailand, including funds to rent habitat and promote empowerment of local communities. See more of her work at morganheim.com.

Jaymi Heimbuch has been a member of NANPA since 2011, and served as the co-chair of the Environment Committee during 2014-2015. She is an Affiliate with the International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP), and is also a member of the nonprofit HeARTs Speak. Jaymi is extremely passionate about conservation photography and has a deep confidence in NANPA’s potential for influencing the direction of nature and wildlife photography in the U.S. and beyond. She hopes to work on tasks that help NANPA become the number one organization that people think of when they ponder community and educational resources for photographers interested in photographing environmental issues, and ethical standards for nature photography.

Gordon Illg and his wife, Cathy, have been working as full time professional nature photographers since 2000. Their work appears in nearly every major nature and travel publication, including numerous covers of magazines like Backpacker, Defenders, National Geographic Young Explorer, National Geographic Kids, National Wildlife and Ranger Rick. In the extreme print category, several of their images decorate the tails of Frontier Airlines’ jets. They have also done well in photo contests, the highlight of which was being flown to London to accept awards in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition. Their livelihood now revolves around sharing the magic of wild things and wild places with other photographers because they lead photo tours under the name Adventure Photography.He served on the Communications Committee for many years, led two regional events and is currently the chair of the Professional Issues Committee. He has been instrumental in setting up the new webinar program that has been so successful.

Gabby Salazar (Vice President) joined NANPA at age 14 as a High School Scholarship Recipient. In 2004, she was named BBC Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year and she is now a full-time nature and conservation photographer. Gabby is a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in Photography and a National Geographic Young Explorer Grantee. In 2014, she had a 30-image exhibit in the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian; her work has also been displayed in the International Photography Hall of Fame. Gabby worked with Nature’s Best Photography to found a student magazine, promoting photography as a way to connect kids with nature.